More nurses at the bedside could save thousands of patient lives each year

The nursing shortage is affecting the overall quality of patient care in hospitals and other settings, including long-term care facilities, ambulatory care settings, and student health centers.

More nurses at the bedside could save thousands of patient lives each year. Nurse researchers at the University of Pennsylvania determined that patients who have common surgeries in hospitals with high nurse-to-patient ratios have an up to 31% increased chance of dying.

Funded by the National Institute for Nursing Research, the study found that every additional patient in an average hospital nurse’s workload increased the risk of death in surgical patients by 7%.